You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
Last year we had some daisies growing - can't remember where they came from. This year they came up again - reallllllly tall stalks that are so heavy that they just lay down on the ground. They are still blooming and great for cutting and bringing inside, but look pretty strange in the garden. What should I have done? My husband said they need to be staked.
Thanks
I'd stake them, if they're already tall and floppy then there's not really much else you can do at least for this year. Next year, you could look at the conditions they're in, if they are getting more water, more fertilizer, or less sun than is really ideal that can tend to make them leggier and floppier so if you fix those, maybe they will be a little shorter and not as floppy. However some plants are just naturally tall and sort of floppy and will always do best if staked.
In my experience, every year at the height of their bloom a big storm would come up and whip them around until they got knotted up pretty bad. I would spend a long time untangling them, and even cutting them to bring inside if they were really bad.
The bed was too big to stake. This is not exactly the same as them just falling over, but once I untangled them some would never stand up as tall as before... Mother Nature's way of getting the seeds closer to the ground. hahaha
If you can, stick about four garden canes around the plants and then wind soft garden twine around the canes, the foliage will soon hide this, next year, as the foliage emerges from the ground, do the same thing and as the foliage gets taller, make sure it grows into the circle of twine, you may need to add several layers of twine or move it further up the canes as the plants get taller, this is the best time for staking your plants as the growth soon hides the foliage for the rest of the season, good luck. WeeNel.
Next year try cutting them once or twice. They don't grow quite as tall. I have some in an area where I just mow them twice in the spring. It works for me
I buy the circular hoops that have three stakes (legs) attached and drive them into the ground in strategic places amongst the daisies (I have Shastas that get quite large). I put the hoops out just as the plants begin to break through in the spring so they can grow up through the hoops. Sometimes I have a few escapees but I just cut them to put in a vase. Works great. I buy mine at Wal Mart.
Try putting in the Becky Daisy it has a very very sturdy stalk and I have never had them get wind blown over I love them and wouldn't have any other kind.
